Defining the term counterculture is difficult since there were so many dynamics to what counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s actually was. A counterculture can be described as a way of life and set of attitudes opposed to the prevailing social norm. The counterculture of the 1960s developed its own distinct style and political ideology characterized by the desire for social change, gender and racial equality, the use of psychedelics and peace movements.

 

 

The 1960s and 1970s counterculture consisted of not merely “hippies” but also included the “beats.”[1] “Punks” and “beats”, or more commonly referred to as “beatniks” were, respectively, the successors and the predecessors of the “hippies” of the 1960s. Beatniks, like hippies, were usually young people immersed in the various forms of art and were active in demonstrations against the Vietnam War and advocated civil rights during the1960s. Individuals who made up the countercultural movement “rejected the traditional roles of a conventional society.”[2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1]Accessed October 30, 2015. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beatnik

[2]E.A. Swingrover. The Counterculture Reader. (New York: Longman Pearson, 2003), 53.